Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Neutral Territory ❯ A Strange Night for Three Psychics ( Chapter 24 )

Title: Neutral Territory [part 24/?]

Author: Enigma

Written: begun October, 2001

Rating: R

Pairings: (Omi + Nagi) (Yohji + Ken) (Brad + Schu)

Category: Shonen ai/Yaoi Angst Friendship Romance Action Violence. AU-OOC. Giftfic.

Archive: fanfiction.net & mediaminer.org [author: "E-sama the Llama"] plus Wuffie.net [author: "Enigma"]

Warnings: shonen ai/yaoi, angst, masculine friendship in many forms, various levels of romance, action, coarse language, whiffs of citrus but nothing detailed, possibly graphic violence, bloodshed, tiny bits of humor, fluff, and sap; more warnings will be added as necessary. AU-OOC. Giftfic for Rubious.

Spoilers: Aya's sister's condition and a few other small things, nothing major.

Disclaimer: "Weiss Kreuz" is the property of Koyasu Takehito and Project Weiss. All original characters featured herein (including but not limited to: Glocksten, Charon, etc.) are © Enigma, 2003, and are not to be used without permission. This unauthorized work of fanfiction is intended for entertainment only; kindly do not sue me.

Notes: Omi's first trip to the public library results in an unexpected meeting when Nagi saves his life without being aware of the Weiss archer's identity. Can two lonely teens overcome the limits of their dark purpose in life to find friendship and possibly love in the midst of "neutral territory"?

//thoughts//

{{mental speech}}

*****

Friday night. Various locations in the Schwarz penthouse.

*****

Even as Omi was returning to a seemingly empty home, Nagi was walking in on a scene he hadn't wanted to encounter at all since it was certain to ruin the wonderful mood he was in after his marvelous evening with the Weiss archer.

"Don't piss me off again, Schuldich," Crawford growled at the redhead who was smirking delightedly at his own reflection in a mirror while he checked the fit of a skin-tight, gold lamé shirt artfully torn in all the right spots and a pair of almost indecent leather pants.

Sticking his tongue out at the man who he'd been harassing mercilessly out of sheer boredom even as he prepared for a night on the town at Glocksten's expense, the German responded cockily, "Why don't you stop me if you don't like it, Crawfish?" [1]

"Asshole," Crawford responded, refusing to be dragged into his lover's idea of fun even as they were getting ready for an assignment handed down to them from the highest levels of Estet. His own idea of "clubwear" was as boring as one might expect, nothing more daring than a rarely worn pair of jeans with a monotonous button-down shirt sans necktie plus a rather professorial looking jacket.

"Bastard," Schuldich replied. He then turned and greeted the newcomer by proclaiming, "Ah, fresh meat! Naggles, where *have* you been, chibi? You're late. Again." He glided towards the Japanese boy like a cobra searching for prey and the telekinetic took an involuntary step back.

"I don't answer to you, Schuldich!" Nagi snarled, trying to sound confident as he changed the subject and asked Crawford, "Where's Farfarello? You're headed out, I assume. Is he going with you?" The incident earlier that day which lead to the Irishman being sedated had occurred after he'd left for school, so he was understandably confused.

"He's locked up and asleep at the moment, Nagi," Crawford explained and added with an unwitting sigh, "Hopefully we caught an episode early enough that he won't become incapable of functioning, but for now, we need a third member on an assignment tonight. Go and change into something less severe than that uniform so we can leave."

"But I thought I didn't have to go on a mission until tomorrow, Crawford," Nagi complained, before immediately wishing that he hadn't said anything when Schuldich's green eyes narrowed suspiciously and it was clear he'd just drawn additional unwanted attention to himself. Shoulders slumping in defeat, he agreed with a sigh, "Oh, all right. I'll go change into something appropriate." He'd noticed the other men's clothes and knew what was expected of him as he headed towards his bedroom with an expression of unhappiness barely concealed on his delicate features.

All Nagi had really wanted after his wonderful date with Omi was a nice hot soak in the bathtub and an evening of peaceful online chatting with the genki blond and possibly even going to bed early for a change. The memory of his first real hug and kiss lingered warmly in his heart and if ever there was a night meant to be free of nightmares, this was one of them he was sure of it. Now, however, he'd hurry and change then steal a few minutes to check on Farfarello before the three Schwarz psychics went into the night for whatever unspecified assignment he'd been pulled into unexpectedly.

Crawford watched the boy that he'd rescued so long ago disappear from view and with a sigh of his own, he shook his head and walked back to the suite he shared with his lover intending to exchange the boring jacket for a leather one that would garner fewer stares. He felt more than heard the soft click of the bedroom door closing when Schuldich followed him, instinctually aware of his partner's disquiet.

"Schu?" Crawford asked thoughtfully, gazing at nothing after slipping his glasses off and massaging his temples, trying to will away the last vestiges of a headache left behind by a pointless precognition about an underwater earthquake in the South China Sea that he had no intention of warning anyone about. Instead, he remained concerned about matters much closer to home as he inquired, "Did you sense anything was wrong with Nagi?"

Moving closer and replacing his lover's hands with his own and allowing simple touch to convey what was in his heart as he eased the tension in Crawford's forehead, Schuldich replied, "Other than the fact that he doesn't want to go out tonight? No, not really, Brad." Noting the frown that tried to mar his partner's face he added tenderly, "Why do you ask, baby? Have another vision?"

Sighing, the precognitive responded, "No, nothing like that." Feeling mildly foolish, he admitted, "Ever since you mentioned that he was becoming romantically involved with someone, I had assumed that he's spending his extra time with whoever it is he's interested in and I'm wondering why it isn't improving his attitude."

"Oh?" Schuldich answered with interest. On the one hand, the idea that Nagi might be going on dates with someone for the first time in his life to their knowledge was certainly fascinating, but on the other, the fact that it wasn't cheering him up much was disturbing. With a small frown, he suggested hesitantly, "Could some of the old emotional scars from before you pulled him off the streets have caused him to hook up with someone who might be taking advantage of him, Brad? I know neither of us wants to see him hurt."

"Agreed, Schu, but I really have no idea what kind of person he's found to be of interest," the American said unhappily. He then reached to place large, warm hands around slender wrists before pulling Schuldich's hands from his forehead and close enough to kiss as he asked silently, {{Could you do a very light check on him for me, love? Don't let him know you're scanning him, all right?}}

{{For you, baby, anything,}} Schuldich responded and then let the weight of his body rest against that of the taller psychic who supported him effortlessly as he sent his powers out in search of the answers they both wanted.

For his part, Crawford merely stood there, holding Schuldich close and privately cursing the fact that his precognition wasn't something he had any control over whatsoever since if he could selectively see pieces of the future, life would be so much simpler. However, if he'd been able to chose the visions he saw ahead of time, he'd already know the identity of the blue-eyed telekinetic's love interest and that knowledge would've brought about whole new levels of sorrow he had no way of knowing about.

After only a few moments of concerted effort, Schuldich drew himself back into his physical body and with an annoyed huff of breath, he admitted, "I can't get much of anything from the kid other than the fact that he's upset about going out, Brad. His shields are stronger now than I can recall them ever being and if I wasn't sure before whether or not he was hiding something, I'm sure of it now. Most likely it's exactly what we need to know, too. Damn it all." There was little anger in the vindictive and he let himself just rest where he was, head nestled against Crawford's muscular chest for a moment as he gathered his strength once more.

Stroking long, flame red tresses soothingly, Crawford replied, "Try not to worry about it right now, Schu. Plan to keep tabs on him while we're out babysitting that idiot Glocksten tonight and who knows? Maybe Nagi will slip up and let you catch a glimpse later."

Snorting in disgust, Schuldich responded, "You want to know something, Brad? I *really* don't like that jerk Estet insists on us watching over this time around." He moved so he could peer up at his lover's face and when he was gazing eye to eye with Crawford, he added, "He may be from the same country as me and that ought to buy him some points, but I truly detest being forced to protect a child-abuser."

Anger smoldered in mahogany-hued eyes and Crawford remarked, "I couldn't agree with you more, Schu, but we weren't given a choice on this one. Apparently that vain, self-absorbed bastard has connections to Estet that are even better than ours are, so we do what we must."

"I know," the telepath groused, "but every time I look at him and think about what he does to the kids he steals, I remember how shocked I was after you brought Nagi to me that first time. Gods, seeing the marks from the adults who'd taken advantage of him on his tiny little body when I bathed him just messed with my already unstable head, I guess."

Heaving a deep sigh, Crawford regretted all over again that he wasn't as powerful as he preferred to be or they wouldn't be anywhere near a lowlife like Glocksten. Then he said as comfortingly as he could, "At least we've kept Nagi in the dark as to what Glocksten does and if we just keep our wits about us, this ought to all be over soon. Estet wants to relocate him to Osaka and then he'll be some other poor fools' problem, not ours."

"Good," Schuldich muttered then rose onto his tiptoes asking wordlessly for a kiss.

Crawford obliged him willingly and when the brief, tender moment broke, he said with a sigh, "Well, time to go back to the 'real world', love. This was sweet, but we both know it can never last."

"I know," Schuldich replied with a shrug, "but such is life. Let's go be bastards ourselves again, shall we?"

"Why not?" Crawford almost smiled before pulling on a dark leather jacket that earned him a smile of approval from his fashionably dressed partner and added in his usual killer's voice, "After all, it's our stock in trade, now isn't it, Schuldich?"

Pulling the door open and returning them to their public personas, the redhead replied saucily, "Of course it is, Crawford. Nobody's as good at being bad as we are."

Crawford merely rolled his eyes, refused to answer and instead set about the not insignificant task of figuring out where exactly his lover had hidden his car keys earlier as part of his efforts to annoy him within an inch of exploding.

*****

Saturday a few hours before dawn. Nagi's bedroom.

*****

Stumbling into his bedroom in total exhaustion, Nagi fell face first onto his bed and merely lay there for a moment trying to figure out what in the world had been going on all evening.

//What the hell was Schu's problem tonight? I mean, the client--what was his name again? oh, it doesn't matter--talked to me that one time when we first picked him up and then Schu went ballistic. He made Brad pull over and he dragged that guy out of the car and yelled at him in German for five solid minutes! What was he thinking and why didn't Brad stop him?!//

What the telekinetic was unaware of was that Glocksten had taken an immediate and unwholesome interest in him. An interest which he had unwittingly broadcast straight to the telepath who--after relaying a particularly disturbing mental image of the way the hazel-eyed man wanted to "play" with Nagi to Crawford--had then taken it upon himself to inform him in their native tongue that he would sooner see Glocksten dead than let him dangle Nagi naked from a ceiling like a piñata. For the remainder of their time spent going from club to club as the effeminate man sought the perfect mix of music, companionship, and drink, both of the eldest members of Schwarz had protectively watched over the youngest and made sure their client left him alone.

Rolling over and yawning tiredly, Nagi contemplated the lack of the usual sparring he was accustomed to witnessing between the telepath and the precognitive when on assignments such as this one.

//Come to think of it, never once tonight did Schu wander off to go dance with some nobody just to get a rise out of Brad and Brad didn't badmouth Schu when that German guy pulled him aside to bitch about him. I wonder if they were "talking" privately the whole time like they do around here thinking Farf and I won't notice it?//

Nagi was, of course, quite correct about this assumption, but what he would never have guessed was how much of Crawford's time had been spent trying to keep Schuldich from killing Glocksten outright since the amoral beast's thoughts were like an open sewer to the telepath. Despite not being particularly interested in living a morally upright life, the verdant-eyed psychic had standards beneath which he would not allow himself to fall and the constant flow of things that would've made the most creative and experienced sadist cringe had effected him badly.

In the end, Crawford had aided his lover in the one way that he alone could and tossed aside many of the restrictions between their private and their public selves and had used every technique in his repertoire to distract Schuldich and to help reinforce the telepath's mental barriers. As Nagi lay there almost too tired to get up and send Omi a note, the two lovers were behind closed doors and Schuldich was doing his level best to show the depths of his gratitude to Crawford, a process the fifteen year old tried not to think about.

Dragging his weary body off of the bed and staggering over to the computer, Nagi slumped down in the chair, waited for the machine to boot up properly, and practically fell asleep waiting for the sign-on screen to appear and grant him access to his email account. Ignoring everything that was not from Omi, he quickly composed a brief note with a gentle smile on his exhausted face.

It read as follows:

Will--

Hi.

(waves at you apologetically)

Sorry to miss you earlier, but the Yank and the Jerry had a job they needed me for tonight. No biggie, just keep some creep out of trouble like usual, but it went _really_ late and I'm totally trashed now. We've got to do the same thing tomorrow, so I probably won't be online then either, unfortunately.

(frowns and looks most unhappy about it then asks hopefully)

Want to try to get together on Sunday after all? I think I will _really_ need to see a friendly face by then, so give it some thought, okay?

(yawns and says goodbye)

Well, I gotta get to bed now or I might just fall asleep right here. Have a nice day on Saturday and let me know what you think about Sunday. Maybe we can meet at the park again if the weather's nice?

Xavier

While yawning mightily, Nagi read over the note, ignored the fact that it didn't make perfect sense in a place or two, then sent it into the ether of cyberspace. With a careful flicker of telekinetic power he ended his session and shut the machine down once more, then dragged himself back to bed where he merely collapsed before falling into a deep sleep that wouldn't release him until late the following afternoon.

The diminutive, midnight-eyed youth would never discover the lengths his teammates had gone to in an effort to keep him safe from the worst predator to threaten the children of Tokyo in decades and it was just as well. In less than a day, Nagi would be presented with even more evidence of how Mastermind and Oracle both truly felt about him than he could cope with as things already stood.

*****

To be continued.

Author's Notes:

[1] I can't take credit for Schuldich's insult here. I think that the first fic I read where someone called Brad "Crawfish" was by darling Yanagi-sen and I've wanted to "borrow" it ever since!